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Call for the ACM Student Research Competition

Modularity'14 is hosting an ACM Student Research Competition (SRC). The competition, sponsored by Microsoft Research, is an internationally-recognized venue that enables undergraduate and graduate students to experience the research world, share their research results with other students and Modularity'14 attendees, and compete for prizes. The ACM Student Research Competition shares the Poster session's goal to facilitate students' interaction with researchers and industry practitioners; providing both sides with the opportunity to learn of ongoing, current research. Additionally, the Student Research Competition affords students with experience with both formal presentations and evaluations.

Important Dates

Submission: February 9, 2014 [deadline extended]

Notification: February 16, 2014

Camera ready: February 24, 2014

Submission Guidelines

Submissions must be original work that is neither in submission nor already published at Modularity, AOSD or another conference or journal. Student Research Competition submissions will be simultaneously considered as poster submissions. Students who are not selected to participate in the Student Research Competition will be considered for the poster event.

The submission should describe:

The research problem and motivation

Background and related work

Approach and uniqueness

Results and contributions

Submissions should not exceed 800 words and must be in ACM SIGPLAN Conference style, 9pt font size. Submissions are reviewed by a panel of experts, and are evaluated based upon the following criteria:

Quality of work

Novelty of approach

Significance of contribution

Clarity of written presentation

A maximum of 20 students (10 undergraduates, 10 graduates) will be selected to participate in the Student Research Competition at Modularity'14. Students whose submissions are accepted to participate in the competition are entitled to a stipend for their travel expenses, up to a maximum of US$500.

At the conference, the first round of the competition evaluates the research during a poster presentation. The poster presentation is evaluated based on two facets:

The presentation of the research, including the visual aspects of the poster and the student's oral discussion.

The research, specifically its quality, novelty, and the significance of the contribution.

Based on the results from the poster session, the judges will select students to advance to the second round of the competition.

During the second round of the competition, students give a 10-minute presentation of their research, followed by a five-minute question and answer period. The presentation is evaluated by a panel of judges, and the top three winners in each category are selected.

Prizes

The top three winners at Modularity'14 in each category (undergraduate and graduate) will receive prizes of US$500, US$300, and US$200, respectively. All winners also receive an award certificate and two-year complimentary ACM membership with a subscription to ACM's Digital Library. Winners will be recognized during the conference. These winners will also go on to compete in the ACM Student Research Competition Grand Finals with winners from other ACM conferences.

Requirements

Participants must be undergraduates or graduate students pursuing an academic degree at the time of initial submission. The contest has two categories, one for undergraduate research and the other for graduate research. Three winners will be selected in each category. Research completed while the student was an undergraduate may be submitted to the undergraduate category even if the student is now a first-year graduate student. Participants must provide a signed letter from their academic supervisor confirming that they are registered as a full-time student and that at least 50% of their working week is spent following an academic course of study. Additionally, participants must be current members of the ACM, and must provide their ACM member number.

Although the ACM and Modularity'14 recognize the importance of collaborative research, the Student Research Competition is meant to be an opportunity for junior students to develop their skills as researchers and to give them an opportunity to showcase their work. One of the goals of the program is to focus on the student, their capabilities as a researcher, and their potential. As such, only individual research projects will be considered for the Student Research Competition. Supervisors of the work may not be listed as co-authors; you must submit a single-authored version of your work for the competition.

Summary

Proposals' submission deadline: February 2, 2014

Notification: February 16, 2014

Camera ready: February 24, 2014

First Round (Posters): April 22, 2014 (tentative)

Second Round (Presentations): April 24, 2014 (tentative)

Required: The extended abstract (max. 800 words), including ACM member number